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Andy Couzens has told The Boot Room that Leeds United have got to hand summer signing Raphinha a new contract in order to keep the Brazilian happy at Elland Road – amid murmurs that Liverpool are interested in signing him.
Raphinha, 24, joined Leeds in the summer from French club Rennes and has since starred for the Whites. He produced a masterclass on Monday, helping Marcelo Bielsa’s men beat Crystal Palace 2-0 at Elland Road in the Premier League.
The former Sporting Lisbon man failed to add to his tally of four goals and four assists, but he turned Gary Cahill inside out and it was was his shot that was parried by Vicente Guaita – allowing Bamford to notch his 12th goal of the season.
French magazine France Football – as per GFFN – have claimed that Liverpool have sent scouts to watch the Leeds midfielder, ahead of a potential move in the summer. Raphinha is currently on a contract at Leeds until the summer of 2024.
Ex-Leeds midfielder Couzens believes the club have got to hand summer signing Raphinha a new deal in order to stave off interest from other clubs – rating Raphinha between figures of £50million and £70million.
“Raphinha is an unbelievable player. Patrick [Bamford] said we have a bargain at £17million, and he’s getting better and better. As a neutral, we can’t watch him live because live will be better than seeing him on the TV,” Couzens told The Boot Room.
“He looks so happy, he is playing a brand of football he likes. We want Liverpool to be after him, we want Manchester United, Chelsea to be after him – that means we’re doing something right. It also means we can challenge.”
TBR’s view – Couzens is bang on, Raphinha needs to be rewarded
This is not a matter of time remaining on his contract. Raphinha has already shown his ambition in his young career to reach the top – moving from Brazil to Sporting Lisbon, and then swapping Sporting for French side Rennes.
He is clearly looking to move up the ladder and if Leeds are to show Raphinha that the way forward is with them – rather than moving to a bigger Premier League club, then they need to put there money where their mouth is.
Leeds have got themselves a bargain in Raphinha. Replacing him would cost a fortune and even if Leeds spent double on a player, it would still be considered good business. Raphinha needs, and deserves, new terms.
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